Starting Something New

Unfortunately, I've become one of those people who have just started a blog and say, "Wow, I've become one of those people who blog." It's so corny. I know my friends would cringe if they knew I was doing this, because obviously, they are not blog-people. I don't know what exactly has compelled me to undertake this experiment, but I guess that curiosity played a major role. Curiosity, and the palpable boredom I feel while held captive in my office (Official Countdown Until My Last Day: 10 days and only 5 of which will be spent here). Also, my life is about to undergo some radical changes, thus I want to celebrate and memorialize them. What changes? I'm about to quit my heinous job as a Test Development Specialist (already mentioned above) in order to return to university to get a Masters in Creative Writing (Ah-ha moment #1- I'm a writer... apparently writers blog these days... if it were up to me, we'd still use hand-written letters as our form of correspondence- they're so much more personal- but I guess blogs will be easier to anthologize). If you don't know what a Test Development Specialist is, you're already better off than me. I know that I risk sounding very cliched and a little immature by saying this but MY JOB SUCKS. Actually, it SUPER SUCKS. But in the tradition of self-improvement, my suffering here will soon end. So I'm going to leave it at that, although I'm sure I could have had some great posts from my experiences here.

I chose the name "Leo and The Lotus" because of what these two things symbolize to me. The Leo is my astrological sign, and although I'm not one to brood over what my daily horoscope means, I definitely relate to the Leo's characteristics. Here are some of the qualities of a Leo: creative, risk-taking, fun-loving, passionate, affectionate, ardent, loyal, independent, leader, bright, magnetic, protective, adoring, playful, and inventive (with the negatives being: bossy, patronizing, dogmatic, materialistic, over-dramatic, argumentative, possessive, jealous, and arrogant). I also *almost* got the Leo symbol tattooed on my foot. The lotus is a Buddhist symbol. I wouldn't call myself a Buddhist, but the Buddhist philosophy resonates with me more than any other religious philosophy (besides atheism?). The lotus represents purity of body, speech, and mind, as if floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire. I guess that I feel that my path through life, especially my life as a young adult, has taken me through murky and unsure places, and over the past year I really feel as though I have breached the muddy waters and I'm beginning to be whoever it is I am... I also *almost* got a lotus tattooed on my foot. I think I might actually have this done yet... if my sister gives me just a little more encouragement. The juxtaposition of these two things, a powerful lion and a delicate flower demonstrate the conflicting facets of my personality (Ah-ha moment #2).

So my little purpose for this blog featuring the Leo-Lotus, is to have a faceless forum where I can express my various thoughts and experiences, get some writing practice in, and maybe receive some feedback. I thrive off of encouragement. I'll end this blog with some thoughts by Charles Bukowski:

“Boring damned people. All over the earth. Propagating more boring damned people. What a horror show. The earth swarmed with them.”

“Some people never go crazy, what truly horrible lives they must live”

"The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting."

"Never get out of bed before noon."